Anime and film director Shinichiro Watanabe is famous for directing critically acclaimed and successful anime series. His work is characterized by mature themes, evocative use of music, and the incorporation of multiple genres.
Shinichiro Watanabe is responsible for creating the most incredible anime of all time—Cowboy Bebop. This anime is set in the year 2071, and it showcases the lives of a bounty-hunting crew traveling aboard a spaceship, the Bebop.
The anime is so cool that it has been consistently airing on Adult Swim for the past two decades, with the fans still glued to the screens.
It’s a testament to how great Cowboy Bebop is that audiences still find it fascinating all these years later—but the anime’s allure is something that Netflix’s live-action adaptation is yet to achieve. And Shinichiro Watanabe was not impressed by it either.
In partnership with Midnight Radio, Marty Adelstein’s Tomorrow Studios are credited for producing Cowboy Bebop for television.
Producers such as Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec have a track working on films such as Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Teaming up with Sunrise Inc.’s original creators, the producers and directors have created the Live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop.
Creator Shinichiro’s Take on the Live-action Adaptation
In an exclusive interview spanning Watanabe’s lengthy career, Forbes sought to find out what the creator and anime director thought of the Netflix live-action adaptation starring John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, and Daniella Pineda.
It’s not surprising that Watanabe had little to say about Netflix’s film version and didn’t mince his words when critiquing the film. When Netflix sent him a video to review, he paused at the opening scene, where the cast starts the filming in a casino.
This opening scene made it hard for the director to continue watching, realizing that the film adaptation did not reflect how he originally envisioned the anime.
It did not take much time before he made up his mind about the film—if he were not involved in creating and directing the film, it would not be Cowboy Bebop. While he admitted that the original anime’s value is far higher now, he felt he would have done a much better job than Netflix.
Cowboy Bebop Anime vs. Live-action Adaptation
But perhaps Watanabe’s issue was not the casino in the film introduction—Faye Valentine, the con artist, is introduced in the third episode of the anime, and it’s easy to see what Shinichiro would have preferred for an introduction over a generic action sequence.
The anime version begins with a flashback, as Spike walks in the rain, eager to meet his lover Julia and his rival Vicious. Spike knows it won’t work out well. The scene plays out well and is pretty cool.
Likely, Shinichiro’s disappointment is not in how well Netflix’s live adaptation played out, but rather, his deeper problem might be the difference between the two Bebop versions.
Despite following the look and storyline of the Cowboy Bebop anime, what the live-action by Netflix got so wrong is that it wasn’t cool at all. Right from its first scene, the film never once felt cool compared to the anime version.
Check Out Shinichiro Watanabe’s Forbes interview
That said, it would be easier if Shinichiro Watanabe assessed the show and realized it wasn’t anything close to his Cowboy Bebop and spared himself the torture of watching the rest of the show.
If you have time, I would recommend checking out the Forbes interview—a captivating, honest, and no-holds-barred spotlight on his extensive career in anime, including his experience working in the US.
